Pastoruri Glacier Tour - Peru

We've pretty much figured that we are going to stay here in Huaraz for the balance of our Peru trip. There is simply too much to see and do in this area that we don't see the point of moving somewhere else just for the sake of moving. We love our accommodation, and the area itself is spectacular.

Take yesterday, for example. Once again we booked a day tour with Peruvian Mountain Adventures. The cost of group day tours is usually around 50 soles ($19.50 CAD, $15 USD) each and that is for the full day tour. We've learned that it wouldn't be much less to get to any of these places on your own, so the day tours make a lot of sense.

Plus, once you are at your destination, the guide lets you do your own thing and at your own pace. Provided you are back at the bus at the scheduled departure time, you're on your own.

Yesterday, we chose the Pastoruri Glacier Tour. It's a popular destination because it's the highest altitude you can get with a fairly short hiking distance. The bus takes you most of the way.

We departed from the central area at about 9:30am. First stop was about an hour later at a tourist restaurant where you could have something to eat or buy supplies if you wish. We had everything with us that we needed.

Our van at the break stop.

This time we had a smaller group than we had on the Laguna 69 Hike the other day. There were 11 of us, plus the guide. 3 people were from Korea, 1 from Portugal, 1 from Israel, 3 from France, 1 from Brazil, and us from Canada. Again, we were the oldest. The rest were 20's and 30's.

Scenery along the way.

Once again, we stopped at the Huascarán National Park entrance to pay our 30 soles ($11.70 CAD, $9 USD) day pass fee.

There are a couple of attractions that we stopped at along the way to the glacier. The first one was not that interesting... a bubbling water hole. It's not hot water... just gas that is bubbling up from the ground water.

Bubbling water.

There are quite a few other tourist groups stopping at the same attractions. That was a bit frustrating, because they should be able to time things better so that they don't all arrive at the same time.

Dressed up for the tourists.

A little lamb.

Ruth saying hello to the animals!

A nice view of the mountains.

Next stop was the Puya Raimondii trees. I had read about these big plants. They are quite rare and only grow in the wild in the high Andes of Peru and Bolivia. These odd looking plants can reach a height of 50 feet!

What an odd looking plant.

Ruth, beside one of them.

A whole forest of them.

Interesting stuff. They are actually a distant cousin of the pineapple!

We arrived at the glacier parking area around 1:00pm and our guide told us that we have two hours to make it back to the van for our return trip. 

Its not far to the viewing area... only 1.4 kms (just under a mile). But, you are starting off at 15,800', and going up to 16,400'.

Again, we paced ourselves. Ruth did the whole thing without stopping. Just slowly putting one foot in front of the other. It looked like everybody made it, but some people were complaining of headaches.

It took 40 minutes to do the 1.4 kms.

The path up to the glacier.

Lots of tourists, but knew there would be going into it. There were even more than normal because of a couple of tour buses from Lima carrying university kids taking Travel and Tourism courses.

There are lots of fossils in the rocks.

Apparently this area was under the sea 125 million years ago!

Our guide was telling us that there is also a full dinosaur fossil nearby, but it is off limits to tourists.

Getting close to the glacier.

The Pastoruri Glacier.

A nice spot to relax!

Looking back.

Ruth, at 16,400 feet.

The air was thin, but we didn't find it much different from the Laguna 69 hike to 15,000'. Of course the big difference was that this was a much shorter walk.

Just a big chunk of ice.

Tourists doing selfies.

Interestingly, there were no other North American tourists. I guess they are all at Machu Picchu! Mostly other South American people, and Europeans.

Me, away from the tourists.

And then it was time for the ride back down. Ruth had a window seat so she was in charge of photos from the bus... she did a good job!

Our road back down!

Some people live up here!

We arrived back at the center of Huaraz and did the 2 km walk back to the apartment.

Today will be a rest day as we have another hike planned for tomorrow!

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